The Kerry League side led from the first half through John Hayes, and looked odds-on to leave the pitch with all three points, but Clarke’s 89th intervention denied them a famous victory.
The Kerry side have been building this team in the U-17 league with a view to progressing to the Under 19 league, and from there on to the League of Ireland itself. On this performance they can indeed be very happy with their progress.
The manner of the game cannot have come as a surprise to Rovers as the Kerry lads have been enjoying a very good season to date.
The Kerry League’s manager Darren Aherne couldn’t hide his disappointment afterwards, “I was deeply disappointed for the players as I felt they deserved a win for their efforts.”
“However great credit to Rovers who kept playing football till the death, and scored on 89 minutes. They nearly got a second on 92 minutes except for some heroic defending from captain Sean Carmody and our keeper Robert Osborne. Overall when we review the game we will be very happy with the team performance.”
You can see the goals here;
“There were long periods of the game where we were defending, as you would expect against the top team, but we defended with composure and organisation which I am very happy with.
We also created some very good goal scoring opportunities, and if we had taken one of these then it may have been a different outcome.”
“We scored from a corner again which is an aspect of our play that has greatly improved, with John Hayes scoring again from midfield.”
“Other players to catch the eye on the day were, Rob Osborne, Sheagh O’Connor, Ronan Cahill and Kevin Williams.”
“It’s been a good May for the squad, with more points than last year’s total and with improvements in every game.”
“We need the 3-week break at the moment to get some players back to fitness, although with 2 long term injuries we will need to look at the upcoming transfer window to assess the squad. But at the moment everything is going really well for everyone.”
Limerick’s Gary Manning said, “It was a tough game, just as expected, and we had limited numbers which makes it harder again.”
“For the first goal I think our work rate had dropped on the transition and they opened us up. The second is a very bad goal to concede, as we have just let him ghost past us and shoot. As for the third I feel sorry for Cory as he has made some super saves throughout the game and he should have pushed the save from the free kick wide instead of centrally.”
“On total reflection we have done things well that we didn’t do against Galway but haven’t brought the same tenacity into the Waterford game. We are suffering with a lot of injuries at the moment so the break is coming at a good time, and we can work on combining the good elements from each match.”
Cork City are third in the table after a big 6-3 victory over Bray Wanderers.
Cork’s Brendan O’Sullivan told us after the game, “We were delighted that we finally converted some of the chances we have created. In all bar the Cabinteely game away, we thought we created enough chances to win every game so far this season however our ruthlessness in front of goal has cost us dearly in terms of results.”
“We started like a house on fire against Bray and were 3-0 up inside 7 minutes with Cian Murphy getting two excellent goals in the space of two minutes. If this proves to be his last game for the U-17’s then he will have gone out on a high as he now moves up to the U-19’s.”
“Conor Bowdren, Douwe van Sinderen, David McCullagh and Cian Bargary were also on the scoresheet which proves there are plenty of other goal scorers in the team now that Murphy is moving up to the U19’s.”
Wexford moved up to fifth after coming back from the West after a 2-0 win over Galway United.
Wexford’s Derek O’Brien was thrilled to come away with the points, “After a very disappointing result last week I was delighted with the performance yesterday. Galway have had some very good results lately and travelling up there was never going to be easy.”
“We took the lead on 15 minutes after some great work from Adham Masood who cut in from the left wing with the ball to deliver a perfect cross into the box for Liam Berry to finish.”
“Galway were very dangerous, particularly on set pieces and kept us under pressure throughout the game.”
In the 78th minute Ciaran Paige flicked on a ball to Adham to finished into the far bottom corner.”
“The lads really dug in for this result. Galway kept pressing for a goal right till the final whistle so it was great to come away with a clean sheet also.”
As for Galway United’s Alan Murphy, “The Wexford game was a big disappointment for the squad following on from our impressive win away to Limerick. We conceded two poor goals as we got caught overplaying in defensive areas.”
“We were down a few players on the day and had some good chances to score, hitting the woodwork twice, but Wexford were the better team on the day and deserving winners.”
“We now have a break where we can access some players outside the squad as the transfer window opens after our next game and we will be looking to strengthen in some areas.”
“All and all we are pretty happy with our squad development and performance up to the break, and we will be working hard to develop the squad over the next month.”
Cobh boss Damien Rowe said, “Yeah a good solid win away to UCD today. We watched video of them during the week and had a game plan which the lads did superbly in the first half.”
“It was probably best we played this year. The conditions and pitch were excellent.”
On Jaze Kabia scoring again, “Yes, Jaze scored again after good build up play from Jack Ford. Straight away we put pressure on them and forced a bad back pass from their centre half, which unsettled the keeper, and it went under his feet into the net.”
“We expected a back-lash in second half, but we comfortably saw out the half with a few half-hearted attempts to add a third, with Jaze hitting the bar late on before being replaced.”
“Best on day were Joe Meaney, Conor O’Leary and Jack Ford.”
Photo Credits;
Robert Goggins (Shamrock Rovers)
Cork City FC
Waterford FC
Cobh Ramblers FC